Back home
by Blind and Painted Avatards
Summary: Toph wants to go back home to her parents. In order to do so, she must leave the Gaang. Yet when she's back home, she doesn't want to stay.
1. Goodbye

**Back Home: Chapter 1**

The rain had stopped falling, and the sun had taken its place in the sky. Toph could feel the small amount of heat from the rays shine on her feet and she knew that it was time to announce her decision. She climbed out of the handcrafted metal bed, slid on a dress, and joined the rest of the gang for breakfast.

"I can't believe this!" Aang said looking at the statistics drawn on the scrolls in front of him frantically. "Ever since the war ended, it seems like poverty has sky-rocketed."

"Well...it kind of makes sense," Sokka said through a mouth full of bread. He swallowed. "The war supplied thousands of jobs. Soldiers, sailors, anything in the metal business, and the guys who make the weapons don't have jobs anymore.'

Aang sighed. He made a mental note to bring it up at the next Peace Meeting he had to attend. "We need to find a way to supply more jobs."

Toph entered the room. She had barely listened to their conversation because her mind was somewhere else completely. "I...I have to tell you something," she stated. "You may not like it, but its something I have to do."

"What is it Toph?" Even though she was blind, Toph had become adapt to sensing people's facial expressions. She could feel Katara giving her an approving motherly smile. Toph hated when she did that. It made it seem like Toph wasn't capable of talking unless she had someone's approval.

Toph took a deep breath. "I'm leaving."

"No Toph! Don't leave, just tell us what you were going to say," Aang gave her a friendly smiley. It was similar to Katara's, but less motherly. It was more mutual.

"I just did. I'm saying that I'm leaving. I'm going home."

Sokka dropped his fork. "But Toph," he said hurt, "this is your home."

"I know that Sokka, I know. But I just...I need to see my parents."

"No!" Sokka said sternly. "You can't leave us."

"Maybe we can all go and visit your parents together," Suki suggested, her hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"No. I need to do this. I need to do this alone."

"How long are you going stay there?"

"I don't know."

"Are we ever going to see you again?"

"I don't know.

"Toph! You can't leave! Come on...be reasonable."

"Sokka, I want to go home. I want to wake up to my house in my room with my parents. I want to not go to bed every night wondering what is going through their minds."

"But what about us? What about when your back home laying in bed? Aren't you going to worry about our minds too?"

"You have each other. I'm sure you'll be fine. The war is over. I need to go back home."


	2. Pondering

Back Home: Chapter 2

Toph was dressed in the same clothes that she had worn all those years she had been away from home. The green dress, brown apron, and hair were all in place. She was exactly the same as she had left her parents, and yet, she was so different. Taller. Stronger. Wiser. These friends, these journeys, these adventures, had changed her.

"Are you sure you don't want us to come?" Katara asked for the final time.

"I'm sure." All the discussion was over. The decision was made: Toph was going to see her parents. Alone.

She prepared herself mentally. In her head she imagined seeing them for the first time, just what it would feel and be like. "I'm sorry I left," she imagined herself telling them, "but I'm back now, and I've become a stronger person from my travels." She imagined that her parents would hug her and hold her close and, out of nowhere, apologize. "We should have let you go," they would say, "we shouldn't have sent people to go after you. You are wiser than before. We should have trusted you more. We should have..." Toph cut her own daydream off.

"You should have not kept me from the world all those years. You should have let me grow up a normal kid who has a life and choices. You should have been better parents," she grumbled as she remembered her childhood: all those days inside, alone, living two identities. Her parents were harsh. Her parents were over-protective. They did not understand her. But they'll come around, right?

Toph decided to prepare herself for the worst. She imagine herself, knocking on her parents door. "We do not want you here," they'd say. Then they'd capture her from behind, lock her down and put her in seclusion. Where's she be "safe" and far away from anything that could hurt her. She'd be far away from life.

She pushed the thoughts away. "No," she decided. "They'll accept me."

She waved good bye to her friends. "I'll send a letter, telling you how things went. My parents will help me write it. If everything goes as planned, you can come visit me and my parents soon."

"Okay," a meek smile was on Katara's face. She did not show confidence. It fact, none of them did. They were worried that Toph was going to get hurt again. They had a right to be worried. Toph had a right to worry them.


	3. Home?

**Back Home: Chapter 3**

"Home" was silent. Toph sat in her room fidgeting with her metal bracelet. She sighed. "I wonder what Sokka's thinking right now," she pondered.

It had been three weeks after her surprised arrival back home to her parents. Three weeks since the tears of joys and sorrow, confessions and understanding, hugs and kisses, apologies and forgiveness that come when a sincerely missed runaway comes back home. They had accepted her, everything should have been okay now, but it wasn't.

"Toph" her mother called unsurely from around the corner. Even though it had been three weeks, her mom's voice still shook whenever she spoke Toph's name because truly, she still didn't really know her daughter. Back before Toph had joined the Avatar, her parents already had no idea who she really was. As of this moment, she was almost unrecognizable. Her hair was long, her attitude was tough and although her eyes remained blind Toph had seen things and done things that changed her as a person.

"Toph!" her mother called again. "Your father and I want to take you to...." Her mother's voice stopped as she approached room. She found Toph sitting on her bed, dazed. "Toph? You okay?"

"I think so…."

"You sure?"

"No….no I don't think I'm ok…"

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing….just…nothing."

"Ok…." Her mother's voice was timid. Weak. Confused.

Toph's voice was apologetic. "I just kind of want to go home that's all."

"You are home."

"I mean back to the Avatar"

"Oh…"

"I mean never mind. I know this is home. It just feels…" She struggled for the words. "empty."

"I'm sorry Toph. I'm sorry that you can't live here comfortably anymore. I'm not sure you ever were comfortable her and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I know…its not your fault." Small tears drifted down Toph's face.

"I don't want you to leave again. Not until your older."

"I know."

"Maybe eighteen, maybe then." Her parents had adjusted to Toph's wants and needs as her own person but they were still protective. When her mother said eighteen, she meant it.

The next morning, Toph awoke saddened. If she wasn't blind, she would have escaped in the night, but she couldn't leave without saying goodbye or else her parents would worry even more and because she was blind and couldn't write, she had to say goodbye in person.

"Look, I know, that we tried to work it out. You did. I missed you, I came back, and we tried to work it out. But I can't live here."

"It's your home Toph."

"I'll come and visit."

"Don't make us let the guards on you."

"I defeated hundreds of firenation troops. Skilled fire nation troops. The guards won't hold me back. Please…just let me go."

Her parents stared at each other. "Ok…" They sad at last. "See you soon. I hope we see you soon."

Honestly, Toph knew that she was leaving the one place where she was and felt the safest. But it wasn't like Toph to want "safe". She wanted adventure. She wanted to go back to the gaang.


	4. Listening

She had been standing behind the mansion in which the gaang has been living in since the war ended for over six hours. She knew it was a little stalkerish and creepy to be doing this, but she couldn't make herself walk in on them just yet.

It had been five weeks since she left the gaang, just over a month. Not much could have changed in a month, so she would think. And yet, when she finally arrived back in Ba Sing Se, she felt awkward and out of the loop as she listened to her friend's footsteps and actions.

For starters, Aang and Katara must have gotten into some sort of fight because they kept on avoiding each other. That was sure different from their hand-in-hand love that was there when Toph left.

"Suki and Sokka's relationship stayed the same," Toph observed with relief, surprising herself. Since when did knowing that Suki's and Sokka's relationship was going great given her relief?

Mai and Zuko, who must be visiting from the fire nation for a few days (a pretty typical thing they did), also seemed fine, yet it was almost as if Zuko and Katara had some sort of need for avoidance too. Toph pondered over this, imagining a secret unspoken love between Zuko and Katara that had driven Aang insane. She laughed. From a few vibrations she had made up and toyed with her friends' love lives. None of things she was assuming were probably true and all. She had to go see for herself. She had to say hello and rejoin her friends like she planned. She took a deep breath and knocked on the mansion's gate.


End file.
